For the first time in two years, with the relaxation of the Safe Management Measures, Woodlands Police Division organised a physical Community Partnership Forum on 9 September 2022 at Woodlands Division Headquarters. Close to 100 guests comprising grassroot leaders, Safety and Security Watch Group (SSWG) members, representatives from partner government agencies and corporate partners attended the forum.
The theme for Woodlands Police Division’s Community Partnership Forum is “Stronger Together”, to mark the close relationship that Woodlands Police Division has with the community. The Forum extended Police’s appreciation to partners who had worked closely with Woodlands Police Division to prevent, deter and detect crime.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (AC) Ang Eng Seng, Commander of Woodlands Police Division engaging with the guests who attended the Forum
One of the partners honoured at the Forum was Wee Chwee Huat Management Services Pte Ltd (WCH). As a close partner of Woodlands Police Division and a member of the SSWG, WCH has been actively participating in community events and coming up with initiatives that bring the migrant worker community closer to our local community.
One of the initiatives introduced by was the translation of audio Crime Prevention Advisories (CPAs) into foreign languages such as Bengali and Burmese, for ease of communicating to the migrant worker communities. These audio messages would also be broadcasted at dormitories and recreation centres, and have also been used by Woodlands East NPC officers during patrols as part of their ‘in-car audio advisory’ initiative.
Another initiative involved the display of CPAs on the billboards of Frasers Mall (Causeway Point & Northpoint Shopping Centre). This initiative by two SSWG members has increased the awareness of shoppers on the latest scam trends and led to a reduction of 19% of shop theft cases in these malls, based on a period-to-period comparison from Jan – Jun 2021 to Jan – Jun 2022
Beyond SSWG members, Woodlands Police Division also works closely with our strategic partners and other government agencies, such as the Land Transport Authority (LTA), Naval Base Secondary School (NBSS) and SMRT Ltd. One recent initiative pertained to the installation of column wraps at Khatib MRT. The column wraps were designed by NBSS and installed on MRT columns to encourage pedestrian and cyclists to look out for each other’s safety. This addresses the safety concern arising from the high number of cases involving collisions between Personal Mobility Devices and pedestrians.
Since the column wraps were installed in July 2022, Woodlands Police Division saw a 78% reduction of such cases. Work is underway to extend this initiative to other MRT stations within Woodlands Police Division.
Column wraps encouraging safety on shared pathways installed at Khatib MRT
Apart from initiatives that target physical crimes, Woodlands Police Division also partners key stakeholders to spread anti-scam advisories to members of the public. The National Library Board (NLB) partnered Woodlands Police Division to conduct storytelling sessions to young audience and their parents. During the session, officers would share crime prevention messages such as the tell-tale indicators of potential scams, thereby preventing them from becoming the next victim. This is the first time that NLB and SPF collaborated on an initiative of this nature. Woodlands Police Division is working with NLB to conduct more of such sessions.
NLB and Woodlands Police Division’s storytelling session partnership, involving the sharing of crime prevention messages and anti-scam advisories
Woodlands Police Division is also riding on the Singapore Green Plan and incorporated green initiatives in their crime prevention messaging. For example, used post-it notes were pasted on the window of Woodlands West NPC to create short and concise CPAs on scams, such as “Don’t Share OTP”.
Green initiatives were incorporated into crime prevention messaging by Woodlands West NPC, such as this advisory on “Don’t Share OTP”
In the spirit of commemorating the close partnership with our partners, Woodlands Police Division also took the opportunity to unveil their latest crime prevention initiative, the display of crime prevention videos via a mega projector onto the Woodlands Police Division building façade. This aims to capture the attention of the MRT commuters and residents through spreading of short anti-scam and crime advisories.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (AC) Ang Eng Seng, Commander of Woodlands Police Division said: “Woodlands Police Division hopes to work hand-in-hand with members of the community to suppress crime and keep criminals at bay. When public perception of the Police remains high, and when residents continue to feel safe to be out at night alone, it is really due to the fruit of our community partnership. This has been critical to the Police mission to prevent, deter and detect crime.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
10 September 2022 @ 4:00 PM